Paleo Bison in the works for the 2014 Winter Solstice Celebration- photo: Bluff Arts Festival Two years ago the town of Bluff hosted a unique event on the Winter Solstice- a Mammoth Effigy Burning.  Two local artists, Joe Pachak and JR Lancaster, with the help of some Bluff residents, built a 16 foot mammoth out of willow and cottonwood in an open lot in the center of town.  The mammoth was built with the intention to not only celebrate the Winter Solstice, but also to bring awareness to the area’s history and to the mammoth petroglyph along the San Juan River near town. 2012 Mamm ..read more

River & Hummer Tour with Wild Expeditions- Bluff, UT It’s hard to believe, but it’s been about 11 years since I last floated the San Juan River with Wild Rivers Expeditions back in 2011, and a lot has changed since then. Jared & Spring Berrett, who were already running Four Corners Adventures, bought Wild Rivers Expeditions in 2013 and merged the two guiding companies and became ‘Wild Expeditions‘, offering both land-based tours throughout Southeastern Utah, and river trips on the San Juan River. When I last went out on the river with them, their shortest river trip was a full-day Uppe ..read more

Arch Canyon OHV Tour with Sunrise Outfitting- Bears Ears National Monument- San Juan County, Utah A few weeks ago, our office had the opportunity to go on a guided tour with Sunrise Outfitting, a local guide based in Blanding, UT, who runs guided OHV tours throughout Bears Ears National Monument and the surrounding area. For our outing, the owner, Josh Nielson, suggested Arch Canyon- a popular OHV & jeep route through a beautiful canyon with countless archaeological sites. As those of you who follow my blog may remember, I don’t own an ATV or OHV myself, but I’ve been known to bum a ride o ..read more

Chesler Park- Canyonlands National Park- Needles District The partial government shutdown may have spoiled a few plans to visit Canyonlands National Park, but Utah’s Canyon Country has plenty of other awe-inspiring sites to make sure your trip isn’t ruined. While the gates remain open unlike during the government shutdown of October 2013, the absence of personnel to provide snow removal may render the park inaccessible.  In case you aren’t able to visit due to weather, here are some alternatives to try. John Ford’s Point- Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park If you want to experience th ..read more

The view at Arch Canyon Overlook is AMAZING! Every year about mid to late February when the temperatures creep up to the 40s and sometimes even 50s, I start to get the itch to get out and explore this beautiful area we live in!  Two weekends ago it was 41 degrees in Monticello and my husband and I wanted to take our son for a quick hike and were debating between either Indian Creek or Bluff, and finally decided on Indian Creek since it would save almost an hour of driving and it was already early afternoon by the time we decided to go. Well, it didn’t quite turn out as we had planned.&n ..read more